Philosophy; religion and theology; Social sciences; Education; Education of the Buddhist nuns; Gender equality; Gender equality in Buddhism; Korea; Korean Buddhist nuns; Myoom; Ordination; Women's issues in Buddhism; Women's ordination issues
摘要
This dissertation is a study of the life of Myoo˘m (1932 - ), an eminent Korean nun and educator of contemporary Korean nuns. The main purpose in studying the life of Myoo˘m was to investigate how Korean nuns have revitalized their order over the past few decades, and what the key factors were in the transformation of the new images and roles of contemporary Korean nuns. This work is mainly divided into four parts. The first part discusses the early years of Myoo˘m's eminent monk father, Ch'o˘ngdam (1902-1971), in order to provide a clear picture of Myoo˘m's family background. The second part carefully examines the exclusive women's experiences of the members of a monk's family who left behind his wife, mother, and daughters. In order to escape recruitment as a 'comfort woman' by Japanese authorities, Myoo˘m's mother sent Myoo˘m to live with Ch'o˘ngdam. This moment of flight provided her with a great opportunity to join the monastic life. The third part closely studies Myoo˘m's intellectual ambition and her personal spiritual journey after joining the monastic life in 1945. This part carefully investigates Myoo˘m's novice and probationary ordination and all aspects of her monastic training in order to present invaluable information about the religious experiences of a Korean woman, as well as general information about the religious climate in which she lived. The last part focuses on Myoo˘m's significant contributions to the order of contemporary Korean nuns such as her pro-active role in reconstructing the order of nuns and her great leadership in working for gender equality in Korean Buddhism. By focusing on her teaching vocation and her leadership for both nuns and laypeople, this part examines many central elements of the rebuilding of the order of nuns over the past few decades. During the 1982 revival of a dual ordination for Korean nuns, Myoo˘m played a central role in delivering lectures on the monastic rules for nuns. Her leading role in working for gender equality in the education of nuns and women's ordination is one of her greatest contributions to the order of nuns.
